"If I have to put that much money into the building, I might as well do it for myself," he said this afternoon.

Oviedo initially considered a Chuck E Cheese's type of business, but it would have required an investment of $1.4 million, he said his consultant told him.

The yogurt shop, called Frozenlandia, right next to the expanding children's venue, the Crayola Experience, will also have a kids' play area, he said. It will be run by his wife, Martha, and open by the end of April, Oviedo said. This is his first venture into food services, and he hopes that if it works out, he can franchise the idea.

Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said, "It's a great location," adding that he hopes the Purple Cow ice cream store on nearby Bank Street continues to prosper. Panto said he was very pleased Oviedo was doing the hard work to get the building up to code.

Oviedo said he hoped to begin renting the upper-floor office space by the end of this month and the frozen yogurt shop by the end of April in one half of the first-floor retail space.

The store's signage and lighting received clearance in December from the Easton Historic District Commission, Becky Bradley, director of planning and codes, said, calling recent investments by various entrepreneurs in Downtown Easton "absolutely wonderful."